The following description relates to housing an electronic device.
Computer memory and other peripheral devices can be built into a computer or can be external devices selectively attachable to a computer through an external interface. Certain peripheral devices are small enough to be housed in small, thin, card-shaped packages that are intended to be inserted into specially designed receptacles, typically found, for example, in portable personal computers or digital cameras. Because of the many possible methods of constructing the interface between the computer and such devices, standards have been developed by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (“PCMCIA”), Japan Electronic Data Interchange Council (“JEDIC”), International Organization for Standardization (“ISO”), Compact Flash Association (“CFA”), and others. Standards specify the shape and size of the device housing as well as the design of the connector/computer interface. Such peripheral devices, which may or may not conform to an industry standard, are generally referred to as PC cards. A PC card may include a movable component attached to the device housing, for example, a write protect switch to manually protect data stored on a PC card from being overwritten. A write protect switch can have an electrical contact with an electronic device housed in the PC card, or can provide write protect functions based only on the physical position of the switch.
One technique for providing a PC card that includes a write protect switch involves creating two injection molded shells, placing an electronic device between the two shells, positioning the write protect switch along an edge of the two shells, and mating the two shells together, e.g., by sonic welding or the use of an adhesive. The two mated shells form the housing for the PC card. The write protect switch typically is positioned before mating with a portion of the write protect switch being external to the PC card housing and a portion of the write protect switch being internal to the PC card housing. The shells are mated such that the write protect switch can slide, in response to a user supplied force, between the two shells. A typical write protect switch is small in size and, as a result, the manufacturing process of a PC card can lead to misalignment and other switch failures during assembly.